Katrin Fridriks looks to a sustainable future at the JD Malat Gallery

In a weekend where London has been brought to a standstill by the climate-change activists Extinction Rebellion, Icelandic artist Katrin Fridriks catches the mood of the moment to save our world for future generations. She paints in a similar, but more dynamic, effect to those wonderful photographs which capture an impossibly fast moment in time, whether it be a ballet dancer in flight, a drop of water falling into a pond, or a blast of ice and water, creating new forceful energy across the canvas.

For me, it is her black and white canvases that are the best as the monotone colours merge into grey, silver and a wintery-blue.

‘Grey Area is that in between space for, that undefined realm between black and white where everything is possible. It stands for all potentiality and possibility. The inspiration came while realizing how much of our understanding of the world, whether it be history or physics, is still what scientist call “a grey area”. So basically unknown, uncertain, undefined. Which means, and this is the main message, that there is still much to discover in this world or, like in this case with our solo show, re-discovered. Which for me, in my art, translates into going into uncharted territories, trying new approaches and techniques and once more push my own boundaries of what I thought would be possible’. (the artist)

But, don’t think that these are just naturalistic swirling images, Behind them lies Katrin’s interest in science, in particular the work of Nikola Tesla, the colourful and eccentric Serbian-American inventor who was at one time a collaborator with Thomas Edison, and his search for clean energy including a claim in 1932 that he had invented a machine that could run on cosmic rays. These works bridge science and nature and invite the viewer to stand, isolate the noise of the city around the gallery, and engage with and become immersed in the works in front of them. Katrin’s art provide us with optimism and inspiration for the future.

Ian Caldwell

"The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul."
(Thomas Moore)
To be an architect means having a wide range of interests - architecture, art and creativity in all its variety of forms, sustainability, science and innovation. The greatest interest is often where these different worlds overlap and collide - that is when something imaginative often occurs that pushes us all forward to another place

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